13-member body set up to counsel women, families in interfaith marriages

The ‘Inter-caste and Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee’ will intervene only when it receives any complaint or cry for help. The state government is also planning to start a dedicated helpline number to ease the process, said the WCD minister.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has formed a 13-member committee to help women stay connected with their families when they face reproach at home in cases of interfaith marriages. State women and child development (WCD) minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha will head the committee. An order to this effect was issued on Tuesday.

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The ‘Inter-caste and Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee’ will intervene only when it receives any complaint or cry for help. The state government is also planning to start a dedicated helpline number to ease the process, said the WCD minister.

On December 11, HT had reported that such a committee was in the offing.

This is how the committee will function: it will take details about the marriage, reach out to the family and woman who has married into a different faith or community and counsel family members with the help of experts to ensure they stay connected to their daughter. This was underlined in a government resolution (GR) issued by the WCD department on Tuesday.

“The committee will intervene only if it gets any request for help or complaint on the helpline,” said Lodha. “Anyone can file a complaint with the committee and considering the grounds mentioned it will take the matter forward.”

The committee has also been asked to study existing laws and policies of the state and central government on the issue of interfaith and inter-caste marriages, welfare schemes and if required make recommendations, the GR added.

“We don’t want a case like Shraddha Walkar repeated and thus this committee has been formed, which will help in reconnecting families with women who have married into different faiths or castes against their wishes,” Lodha said.

Shraddha Walkar was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, who chopped her body into 35 parts, refrigerated them to dispose off later. Shraddha entered the relationship against her father’s wishes. He had severed ties with her and learnt about her tragic end eventually.

Other members of the committee are WCD’s principal secretary, joint secretary, commissioner and deputy commissioner, along with eight social activists.

The development comes at a time when the state government is also contemplating bringing in a law against ‘love jihad’ or religious conversions on the lines of Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

‘Love jihad’ is a term used by right-wing activists who allege a concerted by Muslim men to convert Hindu women into Islam through marriage. However, the courts and the central government do not recognise the term.